Review Category : Security News

David Krop, one of the very few laptop theft victims that end up with a smile on their face

David Krop, the vice president of marketing at Nationwide Diabetic, was rushing to a meeting one morning when he left his two laptops inside of his car. He later returned to discover that the car’s door window had been smashed in and that both of his laptops were stolen. He reported the theft to the local police but they were not too enthusiastic about getting his laptop back.

When Krop got home, he remembered that he had installed a remote access application called LogMeIn on one of his laptops. Using the service he was able to log into his laptop from his home PC and view what was happening on his lost laptop. Shortly after entering his information he was able to see that the person who had his laptop was using it to watch porn, download videos, talk with friends and occasionally change his Facebook status. Krop took notes and still frames of his laptops activities before deciding to go to video. He got especially lucky when the new user entered into a video chat with a friend and he was able to see the suspects face.

A lab technician named Raymond Clark has been arrested for the murder of Annie Lee, the Yale student recently found murdered. Lee was a graduate student at Yale university, with her wedding just a few days away, when she was found strangled to death behind a basement wall in a Yale lab this past Sunday.

Raymond Clark was arrested at a motel he was staying at after police were able to secure an arrest warrant based on several sources of evidence.

Word has spread through Facebook that the popular Fan Check application may actually be a virus. Many Facebook users who have downloaded the application have made complaints that their accounts were being hacked and sending unintentional messages to their contacts.

The application, which became available only recently, monitors the friends that comment on your wall or photos the most, and ranks them from highest to lowest. Shortly after it became available on the social networking site, groups already began forming asking for Facebook to ban the new application and warning fellow users not to download it.

Since the dawn of computers, people have been worried about the viruses and hackers. Now there are companies specifically dedicated to preventing these hackers and viruses from affecting our computers. One report however, says that they aren’t doing nearly enough. SANS Institute states that the cybersecurity community is facing an epidemic of unpatched software especially with applications like Adobe, Flash, Java, and Microsoft.

The report found that exploitable bugs in those applications are often unpatched for long periods of time.

On Sunday night, viewers were shocked and disgusted by the inappropriate actions of Kanye West as they watched the VMA’s live. After announcing Taylor Swift as the winner of “Best Female Video of the Year,” Kanye West proceeded to snatch the microphone out of her hand stating that Beyonce should have won. Having a personal opinion towards someone’s style of music is one thing, but stepping in on someone’s acceptance speech to alert the world of your disappointment is something completely different. For Taylor Swift, a moment like receiving your first VMA award is a super-special occasion that should be respected, and protected at all costs. Therefore we at BrickHouse Security have conspired a couple of ways to help keep your spotlight safe when the time comes for you.

A Contract Security worker from Winfield Monitoring the Security feeds

Until recently, the Newark Public Housing Complex was a regular spot for drug dealers to do their business. The drug dealers would hold up a parking lot, customers would make a purchase and they would drive away. But police have made strides in reducing the crime thanks to the over 700 cameras that were recently installed on rooftops, poles and hallways.

The cameras are under 24/7 surveillance and keep a watchful eye on 10,000 city residents and 27 housing complexes. The surveillance systems have helped keep the drug dealers from making open air transactions as well as keeping crack junkies and prostitutes from using the local residences as a hang out. Along with the security cameras, the Housing Complex also taps into the New Jersey state police department to make regular rounds through the houses and the Winfield security company has also been hired to monitor the video cameras.

Police plan to use GPS coordinates to try and determine the location of a teen involved in the shooting of a five year old girl. Lamont Davis was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet that police cut off when he was arrested. Davis’ defense attorneys have also stated that at least three other witnesses identified another person as the shooter.

A motion was filed in the Baltimore Circuit Court stating that the makers of the GPS ankle device device have records showing that Davis was in violation of his parole at 4:09 pm. The defense attorney’s hope to prove that because the company is based in Nebraska the records reflected Central Daylight Time which would mean that Davis had violated his parole in Baltimore at 5:09 pm. Vicki Anzalone will testify that Davis “no more than 150 feet” from his residence which is half a mile away from the shooting site.

After months of silence, ESPN anchor Erin Andrews is finally speaking out about the nude peephole video that rocked the nation. Refusing to give any other interviews on the topic, Andrews says that today’s interview with Oprah will be both her first and last.

Andrews was caught on hidden camera by a peeping tom snooping around her hotel room earlier in the summer. The nude videos seemed to have been taken at multiple locations and were leaked onto the Internet by an anonymous source. Both degraded and humiliated, Andrews is finally speaking out.

“It’s been a nightmare,” Erin says. “I’m ready to wake up.” She describes her feeling when she first say the video, “I opened up the computer, could hear my heart pounding, saw it for two seconds and got hysterical,” she says.

Fearing that this invasion of privacy would damage her career, she described her feelings of panic to host, Oprah Winfrey. She says she still feels panic when she’s in a hotel or her own home, feeling like she’s being videotaped. Law enforcement is trying to pinpoint where exactly the video came from, all while trying to remove every trace of the video online.

Erin says officials have told her this won’t be easy. “I was told by law enforcement, ‘You’re just going to have to get used to the fact you’ll probably never get it all off,'” she says. “It keeps popping up.”

Although she has been a victim of the Internet, Andrews describes that she has found great comfort in the online community. Victims of similar crimes have reached out to Andrews, hoping that she will be the one to put an end to this type of stalking and abuse.

“I think it will always make me feel nervous. But I also feel it’s my duty to come out and show this person: ‘You know what? I worked hard for my career, and I got there the right way, and you’re not going to break me down,'” she says. “I also feel it’s my responsibility for these women and other victims of video voyeurism to just come out and say: ‘Look, I’m going to show my face. I’m going to get back to work. Let’s do it. You can too.'”

Undeterred, Erin Andrews says she’s looking forward to this year’s football season, covering the games from the sideline for sports mega station ESPN.

Probably the biggest tragedy in U.S. history, everyone remembers where they were on September 11th, 2001.

I remember visiting the World Trade Center in 5th grade on a family trip from Boston. It was one of the biggest buildings I’d ever seen, and I practically had to bend backwards to see the entire building. I jumped on the elevator to the top, which took much longer than any other elevator and made everyone’s ears pop. Once I reached the top, I remember stepping out on the deck to huge gusts of winds and the best view that Manhattan had to offer. 5 years later I would have never imagined sitting in math class and hearing that a plane had hit one of the towers. Panic, loss, and sadness. How could such powerful and grandiose buildings fall so easily?

Today, the scene is much different. In the center of Lower Manhattan’s hustling and established Financial District, lies an empty void marked by construction cranes and dirt. 8 years later, the site looks very much similar to the days after the event. The air is heavy and sad.

Today is a somber day in New York City, both in weather and tone, as the nation and world remember the tragic events that took place on that fateful day. Thousands gathered this morning at the site of the World Trade Center to hear the victims’ names read aloud and to listen to words of remembrance. Never forgotten, both New York City and the world are standing behind the victims, the FDNY, the NYPD, and the countless volunteers who contributed hours, time, and their lives on that fated day.

A bar in Baltimore named Shirley’s Honey Hole, has agreed to having surveillance cameras being installed both inside and outside their premises. These cameras will have a direct feed to the Baltimore Police department. The owner of the bar agreed to the cameras as part of a settlement deal to help keep her bar from being padlocked. She also must close the bar for a month to install the cameras, and she must hire a security guard for to have on premises. The police believe that the bar is a popular spot for drug dealing and also believe that some of the bars costumers have been linked to several recent shootings. By installing surveillance cameras with a live feed going to the police, they believe that bar patrons will feel more secure drinking at Shirley’s, and that ultimately this will be a crime deterrent.

The police have stated that this is still an experimental system and are not sure whether the cameras will stay in the bar indefinitely or if they will be removed after and certain amount of time. They are also unsure as to whether or not they are going to implement this same strategy in other establishments.

The owner of Shirley’s Honey Hole said that she will place two large signs up to let people know that they are being watched.